To Be Cold
by Thyme In Her Eyes
Summary: An evening in the snow can bring true warmth... [Gast x Ifalna]


To Be Cold

by Thyme In Her Eyes

_Author's Notes: _No, _Final Fantasy VII_ doesn't belong to me. Just so everyone's sure. With this story, I decided to challenge myself with a half-hour 'fic, as I've seen many other writers here try out. I'm using a more descriptive, verbal, aesthetic style here too, as it's such a short piece. I wasn't planning on writing anything like this, but today we had snow! _SNOW!_ I love snow! I spent ages playing around in it like a kid, and now I'm watching it from outside my window. I love it...it's so beautiful. So that inspired this, and I had to write it down. Let me know what you think, and enjoy.

-- TO BE COLD --

It was always cold in the Icicle Village. The entire Northern Continent breathed icy air and leaned into the weather's chill, frosty embrace – it was a continent of ice forests, snow carpets, deep permafrost, glacial mountains, diamond edges and inscrutable angles. Ice and snow was hewn deep into this land, and so deeply imprinted into the people of the few colonies that lived there, it seemed written on their cold, raw skin. The lush, soft white and the sharp North wind lived in their blood and their bones.

Tonight, the snow was falling and two figures had snuck outside their cabin, and were running and frolicking in the snow-white night, careless, fearless and in love. The sky was spangled with falling snow and settled stars. The grey-cratered moon had swelled up from behind the hills. And naturally, it was freezing.

But watching Ifalna run around in knee-deep snow, falling and laughing, Professor William Gast couldn't feel anything but warm and glowing.

He loved watching her, watching her bounding about and finding novelty in the snow, watching her play like a child. He loved watching her dance in it, her face luminous in the moonlight. The tenderness that she created always melted him. Snowflakes were caught in her hair and her springtime smile was more beautiful than any snowscene. She was sometimes too serious, too sad, too burdened but at times but like this when she smiled and let go of everything, she wrapped a bright and moist summer around the both of them.

That was the thing about snow, the thing that made it so appealing – it _looked_ warm. It looked so soft and inviting, as if you could roll around naked in it all day. It cuddled you. But in reality, it stung the skin. It could turn into slush. He'd stopped being romantic about snow years ago, couldn't be anything but pragmatic about the natural phenomenon.

But Ifalna...Ifalna made it magical again. She made everything magical, beautiful. She could tease a smile, nourish a laugh. She was so genuinely warm herself, her soul sparkled with summer; and so she made everything else warm too...including him. She'd made his world a place where it was natural to dance around in the snow.

She was chasing him now, giggling and stumbling after him, before hitting him with a snowball. He grinned, and retaliated. ShinRa and their threats were a world away. It was just a fairy-tale. They'd made their exile, their refuge, a snowy, frozen paradise. This, _this_ was reality. He felt like a child again. Safe, happy. He'd protect her, no matter what.

She tripped and fell facedown, and even though he knew she'd just stumbled and lost her balance, he ran to her instinctively, held her, and helped her up carefully. The sharp wind whistled through the nearby fir trees.

She beamed and touched his face with a gloved hand, as if she wanted to caress the concern there.

"Don't worry," she said sweetly, "I'm perfectly fine."

Her hand drifted down to her stomach, and his followed. Both their hands rested over her distended stomach, and the growing baby inside. It would be soon now, he thought, his heart expanding like the galaxy.

"We better go inside," he said, as gently as the drifting snow, "The cold won't be good for you or the baby."

She laughed a golden laugh. "But I love the snow!" She said cajolingly, but still shivered.

"I know you do...but we've been out long enough already. Come on, I'll make you some hot chocolate..." He said, smiling. Then he sneezed. Then again.

"You're still not used to this weather, are you?" she asked.

"It doesn't look that way." He grinned.

"Come on, we'll go indoors then. I don't want you to get ill; after all, you're so fragile! I'll just have to hope our baby takes after me..."

"Hey!"

"Come on, darling." Ifalna said, linking an arm in his and walking towards their cabin, before adding wistfully: "Goodbye, _aeris_."

"Aeris?"

"Oh! Yes; _aeris _is a Cetran word." She smiled. "It means snow."

"It's very lovely." He said, wonderingly. "Aeris..."

The night was soft and delicate around them. The snow drifted down, slow and swirling, as the he opened the cabin door and the pair stepped into light and warmth. The white evening drifted on, the snowflakes still fell lazily, wrapping the couple in their own wintry world.

It may have been icily cold, but William Gast had never felt warmer in his entire life.

-- FIN --


End file.
